Summer 2000
July 10, 2000	Tragedy, but cooperation at sea
July 2, 2000	Two skunks then too many whales to count
June 28, 2000	Two Blue Whales
June 18, 2000	Our first Blue Whale of the year and a lot more
June 9, 2000	WE WON A HUGE ONE!!! THE MAKAH GRAY WHALE HUNT IS STOPPED
June 2, 2000	Ask Jo Ann about Sunday
May 27, 2000	Whales every direction and double breaches
May 22, 2000	What a week
May 17, 2000	The Monterey Bay has been filled with anchovies...

7/10/2000: Tragedy, but cooperation at sea

Steph here. As you've probably noticed,I rarely write updates for the site, preferring instead to give way to Heidi. She weaves a spell with words that brings the taste of salt air to your lips, the feel of the groundswell beneath your feet and the magic of the whales to your souls. But what happened on Friday afternoon's trip has awakened me from my silence and pulled me from my half of our business equation, my beloved engine rooms. I headed out from the breakwater on a northwesterly course toward the edge of the Monterey submarine canyon. Our friend and aspiring captain, Alan, was on board as deckhand. As we approached the canyon I received a VHF radio call from our buddy Leon, captain of the Magnum Force. Leon reported seeing a mother and calf humpback whale pair and invited us over. We headed that way slowly, stopping to see a swirling bait ball of anchovies right at the surface.
Leon's voiced came back over the radio, cracking with obvious emotion.
"Steph," he said, "this calf is entangled in some line that trails 30 or 40 feet behind it." Leon has been around Monterey for a long time. He is a real pro and I was surprised at the depth of the feelings evident in his radio transmission.
"Oh, my God, this is awful," he continued. I eased Sanctuary over toward the pair and as the calf surfaced, I could see the line draped over its dorsal fin. It was surfacing often and not showing flukes when it dove. From my vantage point on the right side of the whale, it looked as if the line trailed aft and was wrapped around its flukes, then additional line streamed behind that. The mother surfaced with an explosion of air. She was right next to the calf and stayed close to her baby when she was at the surface. Leon pulled away and moved out to the west a bit. Each time the youngster surfaced, it did so with a bit of a lunge, as if struggling to break free of its bonds and gulp for air. I directed Alan to the top of the wheelhouse to get a clearer picture of the whale's entanglement. What he reported was indeed grim. The line was connected to--and part of--a large mass of fishing net complete with floats; behind it trailed additional line. I phoned the Marine Mammal Center in Marin, near San Francisco. A few minutes after this Leon reported that he had called the Coast Guard. He came back toward us from the outside. We trailed the pair, boats side by side, with the whales between and ahead of us. The seas were starting to kick up. He devised a plan to have his deckhand, A.J. Young, snag the line with a fishing line with a weight at its end. If A.J. could snag the line, he could haul it aboard and perhaps cut it, lessening the burden the young whale was struggling against.
A.J. made several attempts, but was unsuccessful. I then moved away from the whales and approached the pair at a right angle from their right side. Alan tried to grab the line with our gaff, with no luck. Leon radioed that his gaff was longer and that perhaps we could do better with it. In a building sea, he expertly maneuvered Magnum Force to our port beam and A.J. passed the gaff to Alan. After a few of our attempts, Leon had to turn toward Monterey and head home with his passengers. I could tell from his voice that he hated to leave. As he left, Alan and I worked on our plan. He would try to grab the line toward its bitter end (the tail end). He would haul it aboard and I would try to maneuver Sanctuary toward the whales while Alan hauled the line aboard. We would try to gather as much line as possible before cutting it. I again approached the whales from their right side. I couldn't place us alongside because the line might have wrapped in on of our propellers, which would disable the boat. Alan did grab the line, hauled it aboard and--bless his heart--tried his best to cut it as it whirred through his unprotected fingers. It was obvious that the net had been in the water for some time, because it was covered not only with algae but with razor sharp barnacles as well. He hacked furiously at the line, but it payed out too quickly for the knife to cut.
Within minutes another boat, Caroline, approached our position. Both Leon and I had been in touch with her captain, Brian. He took Leon's place, placing Caroline to our port side and expertly maneuvering her toward the whales. His deckhand, Art, skillfully tossed a fishing line out and on his first try, snagged the line. Brian jumped out of the wheelhouse and went forward to help Art. As they tensioned the line, the whale sensed it and dove. They had to let the line go. I had stopped Sanctuary and was falling to Brian's stern. Alan pointed to the line that had passed under Caroline's stern and between her spinning props. I looked over to Brian and quickly drew my fingers across my throat, a signal for him to put his engines in neutral. As he did so, we saw the end of the line slip between the slowing propellers.
Downhearted, knowing I too had passengers that had to return to port, I turned Sanctuary around and pointed her toward Monterey. Brian radioed that he would try to stay with the whales until the Coast Guard arrived. The Marine Mammal Center and the Coast Guard were going to mount an effort to get out there to try to free the young whale. As we pulled away, I marveled at the cooperation between Leon, Brian and myself. It had taken no prolonged discussion, no lengthy examination of tactics. We knew that the baby whale would die without help and any boundaries of competition between companies and boats were dropped in an effort to save something we all care deeply about. On the way back I called Heidi. My voice must have sounded a lot like Leon's. She'll take over the story from here.

Heidi here: The only way to react to such gut-wrenching news is to jump in and try to help. I pulled on shoes as I ran out the door and soon was on the dock, waiting for Steph to get in. The Coast Guard had requested we not take our boat back out, but instead join them on their 47 foot search and rescue vessel 47224. I resisted because we knew Brian would have to come in very soon, which would leave the whales untended. Two platforms would be better than one. I'm not often talked out of my plans, but it seemed as though everyone we needed would soon be on 47224 and as Steph pointed out, she is twice as fast as Sanctuary.
We were picked up by the 47 soon after Steph docked, but it soon became clear that was all that would happen quickly. The Coast Guard crew had never attempted such a rescue and so they waited for divers who were supposedly coming, but didn't materialize. The Marine Mammal Center did locate two volunteers to send out, but they had no experience in such a thing. The Coast Guard rigid hulled inflatable had sustained damage recently and its electronics had been removed. It could respond (and would be very useful for close-in maneuvering), but it was on a trailer in their yard. I kept looking to Steph and saying, "Let's get out there; they'll get the divers and catch up when they can," but he suggested we give it ten more minutes, ten more minutes. Meanwhile, I called Monterey Fire Department and asked if they could bring us some seatbelt cutters. Unfortunately, their trucks don't carry these tools, but some of the firefighters own their own. They made a valiant effort ot locate some but when that failed, they still rushed to the Coast Guard pier Code 3 to deliver several pairs of heavy duty, blunt-nosed scissors that could come in handy.
Finally, with a diver from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary headed to the dock and the inflatable being launched, we headed out on the 47. It had been 3 hours since the whales' had last been sighted, but there was hope because the same NOAA plane we are involved in flying marine mammal aerial surveys on was dispatched to assist us. To make a long and heartbreaking story somewhat briefer, we hunted until nightfall, but we never found the pair. A lot of good people tried their best, but it wasn't in the cards. Although Steph and I sighted a humpback in the gathering dusk, we tracked it long enough to be absolutely certain it was a lone whale. We can't know what happened to the baby humpback, but the prognosis isn't good.
As we headed in, Steph and I discussed how we could take positive action to avoid a replay of this terrible day. We hatched a plan that we worked on in earnest today. We called the Moss Landing division of the Marine Mammal Center and told them we'd like to help coordinate a Monterey Bay rescue unit using Sanctuary as our main vessel. We offered to donate her time as well as ours. We have a small inflatable we will also use and so we're looking for a small outboard motor for it. Our suggestion was met with enthusiasm and we are forging ahead. I contacted the Sanctuary office and several marine biologists who work with whales and asked them for their help in the form of offering ideas as well as their being responders. I sketched out my dream tool to cut fishing lines, net and rope away from marine mammals and described it to others for input.
When it comes to tracking whales, we are very good. This is the payback for all of our days spent at sea with the whales. It's a payback for the whales as well as us.
All of this is a bright spot, but another came from Michele Finn, who flew the NOAA plane Friday night. She reported she never did spot a humpback cow with a calf fouled in a fishing net. But she did spot a cow and calf pair farther to the northwest, still within range of where we might have sighted the pair, but just. She said she was positive this calf was not fouled because both of the whales were breaching wildly, over and over, giving her plenty of time to examine the baby. So who knows? I want to think that somehow the efforts of the guys earlier on Magnum, Sanctuary and Caroline started the ball rolling in getting that line and net off the baby and that this was indeed the same whale that Michele saw. But even if it wasn't, we're doing something to be able to write a happy ending that we know is true next time.

Yesterday, we saw no whales at all. It can happen, but it is pretty darned rare and to not see whales or dolphins on either trip in a day hasn't happened in months. But the wind rose yesterday afternoon and we thought okay, the wind will concentrate the bait, which will bring the whales back in toward shore.
Sure enough, the trips today presented so many opportunities to see humpback whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins that we were worn out from the excitement. To top it off, a wonderful article by Kathe Tanner came out in the San Luis Obispo newspaper today. But there was one more surprise waiting for us at home. It was an email advising us we have been selected as the first team on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's aerial marine mammal survey flights. What a hoot this will be! We will fly several times a week, weather permitting, doing transects of the Sanctuary as well as the Davidson Seamount which is located well offshore. Not that much is known about the marine mammals we might find out there, but fascinating theories abound on them.
In case you've ever wondered what it might be like to do aerial surveys of whales, dolphins and all of the other mammals found at sea, we'll tell you about the flights as we go. The first thing I can tell you is that the 2 main things we look for on the water are rendered useless from the sky. We will be over many of the blows, so there won't be a way to gauge heigth or shape, and dorsal fins aren't visible from overhead. This will be a new, great adventure!

6/28/2000: Two Blue Whales

We've had several days of little wind and almost no ocean swell, which allows the bait to spread out. The whales scatter as a result, which makes it challenging sometimes. Even so, we have seen whales on every trip recently. Yesterday, on our morning cruise we saw humpbacks. Our second trip of the day was a special charter. Three other boats were whale watching in the afternoon and since we get along well, we were comparing strategies with the skippers. Raul was out there first and he headed for where we'd left the humpbacks. Tinker went farther out where he'd had a report of a blue whale. We were third, so we split the difference between Raul and Tinker, heading west/northwest. I was on top of the wheelhouse spotting and it was chilly, reminding me again of the line Mark Twain probably didn't say, but it's pretty good anyway:
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
The group had lost its start of the trip enthusiasm and had settled into a state bordering on resignation. Even though their group's other charters had all seen whales, maybe this one wouldn't. But we never give up. We know we have whales, we just have to work harder sometimes.
Leon, last out, headed in the general direction Tinker had. They ran across a handful or two of dolphins. Raul reached his limit for the time he had left and he still hadn't seen any whales, so he started to head south to see if he could pick up a few dolphins, too. He passed astern of us. It wasn't looking good. Maybe there was a whiff of a skunk trip in the air. Look harder.
We hadn't seen a darned thing, so we headed for the boys. But there was an odd splash off to the west about a quarter mile from us. I radioed this to Steph.
"A blow?" he asked.
"No. It's the weirdest thing, Steph. Just a big splash. Bigger than a pelican makes. Maybe a dolphin, but I haven't seen a thing since then and it was a minute or so ago." I kept scanning the area.
"There it is again at our one o'clock!" I said, "I don't know what it is, but it's big and no blow this time, either." Even though we were still heading south for the dolphins, I stared where I'd seen the odd splashes.
"BLOW! We've got a blue whale, folks! The biggest thing ever to have lived on earth," Steph announced over the PA. "Three o'clock!" Three o'clock? What was that at one o'clock? The boat swung to the west. I knew he would now be on the VHF radio telling the other captains about it. Our little coconut telegraph works both ways and on a skinny day, it is awfully nice to help each other out. I kept staring where I'd seen the splashes, but nothing. Oh well, we had a whale! Even so, I told Steph I suspected we might have two whales.
The group was instantly aroused when it saw the massive blows, the endless back as the animal surfaced. They took pictures, yelled out, craned their necks to see more. It was, I yelled excitedly, the chance of a lifetime to see this marvelous creature. Then the whale raised its flukes (something we don't often see), displaying a redwood trunk sized body and flukes that fanned out gracefully spilling water. It dove into the sea. We waited several minutes, during which the other boats came north. When the whale surfaced next, it was over where I'd seen the splashes and as it rose, another blue whale came up next to it. Sure enough! Two blue whales. It is enough to see one, especially on what had been a skinny trip, but two!
Then we saw one of the whales fluke again and the other whale came straight toward our boat as it swam along the surface. It eased a bit to our starboard and passed by 100 feet away--one whale's length away!--blowing with a ferocious power before it sounded again. Film zinged through cameras like fishing line being stripped from a reel by one big fish. Well, try two huge mammals! We had plenty of time to take pictures, but it's never enough. I coerced Steph into staying out a few extra minutes. On the way back in, I coached the group on what to tell their event coordinator, who would have been waiting at their bus a while.
"First of all, don't blame me. We have a fellow in your party here named George and he's offered to take the heat, so just tell your event coordinator 'George did it.'" They all nodded appreciatively. And why not? After all, they had just seen two blue whales. The chance of a lifetime. Times two.

What a fantastic day this was. We headed out on our 10:30 trip with a lot of people who had come to know us largely through our web site. Some came from Germany and some were from other foreign countries such as the Midwest and the East Coast. They had certain expectations. We didn't want to let them down.
There were a few reports from fishing boats off Carmel that they had seen a Blue Whale, the biggest thing ever to have lived on earth. How great it would be to show our people a Blue! But these whales aren't the acrobats that humpbacks are and we'd have better chances of seeing humpbacks if we went north, not south. In addition, that's a long run south and if the blue decided to make tracks south, there would be no way in the world we'd catch it.
But on the other hand, if we went south, our folks would get a chance to see Pebble Beach from sea during the U.S. Open's 100th playing (that's golf, in case you're as ignorant as we are on the subject). They could see Point Lobos, which is nothing short of stunning both from land and sea. And then there was the Father's Day ocean that was bestowed on us. Calm, flat and gorgeous. What the hell, I thought. I was running this trip and we were gonna gamble. I headed out past Point Pinos and turned south.
Steph nearly had a cow.
It took us all of half our trip time to get in the vicinity of the blue. We saw the huge, narrow blows. Then the sliver of back and the smallish dorsal fin as the whale sounded several hundred yards away. We saw a distant fluke. But all of a sudden, we had Pacific white-sided dolphins rocketing past us, around us and under our bow. We just had to play with them. Then Steph spotted another blow offshore several hundred yards and we went out to investigate. It was a large juvenile or small adult humpback. We eased into its company and after several surfacings and many fabulous soundings complete with picture-perfect fluke shot opportunites, the whale breached just 75 feet off our starboard bow!
It spun up out of the ocean in a gigantic display of joy, twisting in an almost full circle as its long, dramatic pectoral flippers shed water in a glittering cascade that embraced the huge body before it careened back into the breathtakingly clear sea. As I told the boat, "Happy Father's Day from the Pacific Ocean!"
The humpback had several more tricks in its bag, including another breach and four consecutive, lively spyhops, each time coming 1/3 of the way out of the water in delightful succession.
Then we headed north, knowing we'd be late for the afternoon trip, but knowing this was one of those times we just had to do it. We were a little later than we planned though, because we had to stop and check out our first Minke (pronounced minkee) Whale of the year and some of the oddest swimming Dall's porpoises we've ever seen out there. They were very slow, which is unusual but something we have seen before, but they appeared to be swimming with their flukes cupped forward under their bodies. Onboard, we had Michele Finn, our friend from the National Marine Sanctuary here who is both a pilot and a marine biologist; we had Melissa Chechowitz, a veterinary pathologist with California's Department of Fish & Game. All of us watched the little porpoises and shook our heads over the strange behavior. As we say so often on Sanctuary, every day is different.
Soon after the Dall's, we saw the Minke off our port side. Minkes don't show much of themselves--some of the captains here call them "Slinky Minkes"--which puts them in company with blues (however, we had a blue breach almost completely out of the water last year and that sight is etched in my mind forever!). After a few surfacings, we bid the Minke farewell and kicked the pony.
Our afternoon group took the delay in good humor and they were rewarded as well. Numerous pods of Pacific white-sided dolphins and several humpback whales were out there in the Bay to greet them. It was an extraordinary day. Perfect weather, calm seas filled with wondrous creatures. Happy Father's Day indeed!

In a decision we have paid for in just about every way you can imagine, the Makah gray whale hunt has been halted. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the environmental impact of the gray whale hunt had not been adequately considered. In a case in which Steph has been a plaintiff for the past several years, the court decided that the government had not paid any attention to the environmental impact of the hunt. The decision overturned the ruling that allowed the Makah Indians to resume whaling after a hiatus of over 70 years. The case now goes back to federal court in Tacoma, Wash., for additional proceedings, including a new (for the first time) environmental assessment to be done by the government. The Makah were behind the removal of the gray whale from the Endangered Species List in 1994 specifically to resume their slaughter.
The decision reinstates a lawsuit filed by Rep. Jack Metcalf (R-WA) and a lot of others, sending it back before U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess. Burgess had dismissed arguments from the suit that the environmental assessment for the hunt was inadequate. So here is your second chance, Judge; get it right this time.
Not surprisingly, representatives from the tribe couldn't be reached for comment. Darlings of the white-guilt Seattle press (which has had a fantasy land approach to the whale hunt and failed to see how it would hurt First Nations), the Makah must finally be realizing the sham is over. Said the court: "The Federal Defendants did not engage the NEPA process 'at the earliest possible time.' Instead, the record makes clear that the Federal Defendants did not even consider the potential environmental effects of the proposed action (Makah whaling) until long after they had already committed in writing to support the Makah whaling proposal...."
We heard the news after spending the day on the Monterey Bay in the company of killer whales, then humpbacks. We were thrilled and stunned.
"Do you remember how we agonized over whether we should join the lawsuit?" Steph asked me. Oh yeah, I remember. The marine biologists we worked with insisted we shut up about the hunt. In the end, our efforts to stop it cost us our research project. But we were headed where we belonged anyway, to the creation of Sanctuary Cruises. We believed if people saw the whales and got a chance to experience them out on the water, then learned about their threats, they'd want to fight for them. We have been proven right. Not by everyone, but by God, by enough people to tell us this is a good thing to do. As I said as recently as 3:30 this afternoon to our passengers, "The whales of the world are threatened and they need our protection. Give them the voice they don't have on land. Learn about the threats and what you can do to fight them."
You can as well by checking our Protect It! link. Make a racket; make a difference.
Here's just some of the the mail we've received from folks since they heard the Makah whale hunt had been stopped:

Way to go- we're behind you one hundred percent! There's a saying- "well-behaved people rarely make history"- it's those who speak up and make themeselves heard who will be remembered longest and best in any struggle . . .
Crom and Rachel

GOOD FOR YOU and GOOD FOR THE WHALES !!!
It's hard to fight against the current, but successes like this makes it's all worthwhile! Good Work! Joyce from Ohio

Steph and Heidi, thank you so much for all your hard work and courage in participating in the law suit. I've added a link to your site on the appeals victory page at
http://www.stopwhalekill.org/
If you have any other materials on the hunt and the lawsuit, I would be thrilled to add them to the site.
I know that Dian Hardy is a friend of yours. She and I have an article coming out in Animal Agenda -- it was Dian's momentum and writing skills that got the article going. Thank you for all your efforts for the grays. Susan

Bravo to you guys and bravo for the whales. Cynthia D'Vincent
[Cynthia is the humpback researcher who identified cooperative bubblenet feeding and many of you have heard about her on her cruises]

...our faith is slightly restored in the judicial system and triumph of the righty motivated. I was on a watch with you in Feb. and think often of your work and dedication. You are living one of my dream lives... more power to you both and thanks for getting the message out in a most effective way. Take care, Yvonne


"CONGRATULATIONS"
Champions of a cause that they beleive in are always rewarded. It's just that the reward takes a long time in the presentation.

Congratulations to you both!!
I read the story in the San Jose Mercury today and I am very proud of you.

Dear Steph and Heidi,
What a great story! It is thanks to the efforts of people like you that the whales will continue to be a part of our whole living system. Coupled with the victory at San Ignacio, maybe the tide truly is turning.
Jim Burch

Ask Jo Ann about Sunday
Jo Ann Siemsen sent us the following note last night after joining us on our 10:30 trip yesterday. She couldn't have said anything nicer for us because we love what we do and are so gratified when people appreciate how we do it. It was a bumpy trip yesterday, but our friend Leon was out there before us and he put us on some humpbacks fairly close to Monterey. We had the opportunity to show people these magnificent animals for quite a while, even though we decided to head in early due to deteriorating conditions.
Twice, the whales chose to surface very close to us and just hang there, blowing and inhaling, three abreast. I had my hands full on the boat, but I can still see their glistening blowholes expanding and contracting, the flippers glowing underwater... It sure was neat. Here is Jo Ann's take on the trip:
Dear Heidi and Steph
Thanks for a memorable trip today. I have been on many whale watching trips, mainly during January, mostly viewing the gray whales and have tried boats from Santa Cruz to Monterey. I think I started going out over 16 years ago. I have always enjoyed each trip, some smooth, many rough, some with one whale, some with many. I took my husband once, he got sick and now likes the shore. I took our son at three years old for the first time and annually until he started experiencing sea sickness around age 12 or so. Now I invite friends or visiting family members, often on their maiden voyages, hoping to introduce them to the beauty of the ocean and its inhabitants.
My experience on your boat was noticably more personable, more thoughtful and more enthusiastic. I have never been so close to whales in such a respectful way. I look forward to telling people about you both and your boat. One idea I have about spreading the word about what you are doing is asking you if you might be interested in participating in some way in an auction fund raising event held in on behalf of Hospice of Santa Cruz. I have worked there almost as long as I have been whale watching and we hold an auction in which services or tickets are donated. The benefit to the donor is the press and visibility. We mail information to over 18,000 people, mostly residents of the Monterey Bay, and have over 1,000 people come to the event. Its just an idea. I will be telling others about my adventure and I wish you both the best. Jo Ann Siemsen.
Well, of course we said yes! Hospice is such an important service for people. We're sending 4 pairs of whale watching tickets to them for the auction. If you have a business around the Monterey Bay, you might consider doing the same thing. It's a great cause. Tell them at Hospice of Santa Cruz the humpback whales sent you!

May 27, 2000: Whales every direction and double breaches
What a spectacular way to start Memorial Day Weekend: with so many humpback whales around us that it was hard to keep up and on our last trip of the day, we had humpback whales breaching together so close to our boat that our passengers could clearly see their pleated throats and swirling pectoral flippers as the animals spun as they catapulted out of the water. Passengers yelled, clapped, waved and a few of the women on the bow even sang to them. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw 40 breaches in a half an hour and at least two of them were close by us and tandems, with two whales erupting at the same time. It was a great way to start the summer. Join us!

May 22, 2000: What a week
With bait balls the size of football fields and humpbacks carousing on the Bay in huge numbers, we often found ourselves hoarse at the end of the day. This image yesterday stands out: It had been 4-5 minutes since we'd seen whales nearby. Then 3 whales surfaced 75' ahead of us and they were coming toward us. We were barely moving anyway, but Steph put the boat in neutral so the props wouldn't be turning. I was on top of the wheelhouse spotting. I could see their enormous pectoral flippers glowing underwater as they neared us. Everyone was spellbound. The whales surfaced again and this time, they were 20' ahead of us. One went to the right of us, one went to the left and the middle whale arched its back and dove right under us. Simply stunning. Join us!

May 17, 2000
The Monterey Bay has been filled with anchovies, salmon and humpback whales. What do they have in common? Both the salmon and the whales are gorging themselves on the anchovies, making for some of the wildest whale watching trips we've ever run! Whales, dolphins and sea birds abound in a frenzy of activity and the weather through the weekend is predicted to be superb. Come out with us!